This afternoon England host the Barbarians for what promises to be a festival of running rugby with plenty of talent on show, and a few older players who finally have the chance to represent the famous club. Donncha O’Callaghan is one such player.
He told Nick Heath how he feels about the Barbarians, and how as kids he and his brothers wore out the section of a videotape showing the 1973 Baa Baas try vs New Zealand.
“I feel honoured to be completely honest with you, it’s the only way to describe it. I’ll be honest with you, dream come true.. it’s a boyhood dream come true,” he said. “One of the special ones that you don’t get to do a whole lot and I’m excited about it and nervous and you get all the emotions of it.
There’s a wonderful moment about two minutes into the video where the Munster lock opens up on his ambitions of leaving his own special mark on the game, following in the footsteps of the greats that wore the famous jersey before him.
In an age where professionalism takes over most of the time, it’s really nice to see someone like O’Callaghan speaking about what the team, and the fantastic tradition, represents.
Barbarians team:
JM Hernandez, J Rokocoko, R Ranger, B Stanley, H Gear, B James, J Cowan, S Taumalolo, T Paulo, D Kubriashvili, D O’Callaghan, J Kruger, JM Leguizamon, A Lapandry, M Gorgodze. Replacements: A Hore, J Brugnaut, N Lobo, J Tekori, R Wilson, T Cubelli, F Trinh-Duc, A Tuitavake
England team:
Elliot Daly, Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph, Sam Hill, Charlie Sharples, Henry Slade, Joe Simpson, Ross Harrison, Rob Buchanan, Kyle Sinckler, Michael Paterson, Graham Kitchener, Jamie Gibson, Luke Wallace, Dave Ewers. Replacements: Tommy Taylor, Fraser Balmain, Will Collier, Charlie Matthews, James Gaskell, Dan Robson, Ollie Devoto, Rob Miller
Credit: Nick Heath/RugbyMedia
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